The Future of Interfaces

Possibilities Beyond 2D Interface Design

The future of interfaces isn’t just about screens; it’s about how we engage with the world at large. An intrinsic part of technology, interfaces are the elements through which users engage with technology. The buttons and screen on your phone are interfaces, so are the sites and apps you access on it. 2D user interface design is predictably centered on 2D design elements (fields, buttons, interaction points, etc.) and 2D problems (typing passwords, flows across a flat surface, etc.). These interfaces aren’t going away. But just as phone interfaces changed from rotary dials to touch screens, so will new tech breakthroughs push interfaces into more 3D, and even 4D, interaction models.

As we look towards the near-future, the concept of interfaces will expand beyond touch and into the world of voice, movement, VR, and beyond. What does that mean for consumers and society in general? How will this impact industry trends, consumer trends, and business trends? How can companies not just stay ahead of these trends, but take an active role in crafting where they go?

Why Prepare for the Future of Interfaces?

“We cannot separate interface and product any longer. You used to be able to, but not any longer.” — Alida Draudt, Futurist/Ecosystem Design, Capital One

Top tier technology companies have to lead the market in tech advancements or risk losing their standing. The future of interfaces isn’t just about UI design, it’s about solving problems with code, physical engineering, and behavioral research to push emergent tech trends forward. The future of interfaces might be more immersive, more integrated, more invisible; it might involve a different concept of natural human interaction models; it will definitely involve a rethinking of product development to accomplish.

By tackling these questions early on will become even more important to maintaining a product leadership edge. After all, competing in this world of expanded interactivity will require companies, product designers, and developers to rethink what to build, how to build it, and why.

“If we’re going to be building things for customers to interact with, we have to explore these alternate and emerging technologies early, so we know what they mean to customers who interact with them.” Jason Hoover, Director Tech Innovation R&D Capital One.

What are some the many concepts, and issues, these new spaces will open up for consideration?

Possible Futures

- Most everyone is aware of voice interfaces, as personified by Amazon Alexa and other products based on verbal commands and skills. Skills are still fairly predictive. While they’re headed in the direction of natural language interactions, designers still have to anticipate the phrases that users will use. But as more natural, frictionless interactions are being built, different interface uses will emerge.

- Right now, security is often based on systems involving a password or a password + authentication code. How could that change in the coming years as voice, and even face, ID technologies change? How do we authenticate via voice over time, or if the user has a cold and is stuffed up that day? How do we authenticate via face when people age, have facial surgery, or experience trauma to their features? To replace a written, or even verbal password, we have to create and maintain a persistence that will move through time, an issue that will require talented, cross-disciplinary development teams to solve.

- As we think about movement-based interfaces, our public and private interactions will need to be more demarcated. Just like you don’t mention your passwords in public, some gestures you might not want to make in public either. A whole etiquette of interface gestures may be needed for certain social settings and situations. While some of these will be determined socially over time, the more deeply we consider this issue the stronger our products will be from Day One.

- Right now, we think of movement and touch as a mouse dragging across a screen or touching a screen with our fingers. Touch and movement on different surfaces means thinking about speed, motion, and depth in new ways. Additionally, from an engineering angle, fine grain haptics and touch on different surfaces is a difficult problem for both materials and code but one that could unlock whole new types of interfaces.

- How do you design for 3D space and how does it differ from 2D design? What things will we need to learn, and unlearn, to make useful, delightful interactions in this format?

“For a long time now, the gaming industry has been thinking about how people move in the 3D world of the gaming system. They’ve laid a lot of the ground work for what it looks like to do 3D engineering and 3D spacing. How do you lay things out in space and think about how someone will move around? How should distant objects look and what happens when you collide with objects?” Jason Hoover, Director Tech Innovation R&D Capital One.

- The possibilities of AR and VR opens up a new realm of consumer behavior and a potential co-evolution between smart interfaces and human behavior. This co-evolution of behavior with immersive tech and 3D or 4D interfaces will change the physical environments in which we live.

“Imagine a bank branch that didn’t have tellers or touch screens but instead some other way of engaging with your money. Or city streets you could engage with that were exclusively smart interfaces through which you could figure out information based on your geo-located position. How does that change our physical environment? How might these changes trickle into human social, trending and cultural behavior?” Alida Draudt, Futurist/Ecosystem Design, Capital One

These are just some of the possibilities that could be unlocked in a 3D and 4D interface world. By pushing these lines of thought, we set the groundwork for creating new human interaction models — bringing that world one step closer to reality. The jump from an abacus to a calculator, a rotary to a smart phone, represented giant shifts in technologies and UI. What will the next jumps forward entail?

Going to SXSW? Check out Jason and Alida’s panel discussion on the future of interfaces. March 9th, 3:30pm, Antone’s Capital One House.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT: These opinions are those of the author. Unless noted otherwise in this post, Capital One is not affiliated with, nor is it endorsed by, any of the companies mentioned. All trademarks and other intellectual property used or displayed are the ownership of their respective owners. This article is © 2018 Capital One.